Rolling Stone on American Horror Story’s Incest, Bestiality, and Camp…

When I posted about American Horror Story’s most recent episode last week, I failed to mention the camp factor this season. But someone pointed me toward this article in Rolling Stone, and RS didn’t miss a beat. In fact, the entire commentary is priceless.

On Jessica Lange and the camp factor:

I usually tell them something along the lines of, “Long stretches of fabulous camp punctuated by lurid horror.” Most of that luscious camp is provided by Jessica Lange, which is why I cannot conceive of her leaving the show. Lange has helped make the show a cult classic before its time and it often rivals films like “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.” And I can’t help wondering if twenty years from now gay men of the future will be imitating Lange, verbatim.

On Incest:

While AHS’s horror tends to be violence-related, Coven conjured those moments in the most unexpected and unsettling ways. Like the incestuous Frankenstein abuse!

I just kept sitting there saying, “No, they aren’t going there. Tell me that didn’t just happen.”

And this part about bestiality just made me grab the arms of my chair:

Also, apparently she’s so desperate for love that she, well, she tries to lose her virginity to the Minotaur when he shows up to kill LaLaurie.Yes, Queenie went out to the backyard to cruise a beast.

RS is being kind. There are some films where you remember exact scenes and for some reason they remain in your head forever. This scene, for me, will always be one of them. When Gabourey Sidibe, who plays Queenie, lifted her dress and shoved her fingers between her legs I knew I would never be the same again.

I still think that scene was out of character. I wanted to see Queenie show off her powers and tame the beast. I didn’t want to see her touch herself and bend over backwards.

The RS article goes into more detail about making babies witchcraft style, and discusses a scene where Lange kills off a character who is supposed to be the next “supreme.” And in the style of classic camp, heartless Lange tells the tongueless guy to remove the body from the living room because… “This coven doesn’t need a new Supreme. It needs a new rug.”

There’s not much taboo stuff left, so I wonder what’s next. They even covered rape in the first show. And forget about barely legal. The young women in the show are playing all underage characters.

Author of over 100 published LGBT romance novels and stories, including AN OFFICER AND HIS GENTLEMAN and best selling VIRGIN BILLIONAIRE SERIES. Hates beets.
New Hope, PA Palm Springs, CA
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